Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Friendship Train

"We've got to learn to live with each other, no, no matter what the race, creed or color"- Gladys Knight & The Pips

I've had the pleasure of loving a black Republican. And when I say a black Republican, I mean a Rush Limbaugh-loving, welfare-bashing, Reagan-loving Republican. That Republican was my grandfather.

And maybe that's why when I read such FB comments as "all Republicans hate black people" or "the only reason Republicans won't vote for Obama is because he's black", I shudder to think what it must be like for those few black Republicans who do wear their politics on their sleeve. My grandfather was one of those people. Yet back in his day, he could engage in healthy debates. He typically was stubborn, but he never demeaned anybody in his conversations.

I probably also take offense to the whole inclusive statement thing because I hate when people assume I am a Barack Obama-supporter because of the color of my skin. For the record, I consider myself a moderate. I will vote for the person who I believe will fix shit or won't fuck it up anymore (or at the very least won't invite the second coming of 9/11). While right now I can see plenty of reasons why a person wouldn't vote for Romney, I can also see where a person who doesn't agree with President Obama's stances on various issues would vote against him. That's the thing about voting, sometimes it's not so much a vote for someone as much as it is a vote against something. Trust me, I know. My first presidential election was the 2000 election and my second was 2004.

I just hope that at the very least, the conservatives and liberals in my life learn how to coexist peacefully for the remainder of this election season because we will have to long after that first Tuesday in November. I'm all for intelligent discussion and sharing viewpoints, but it would just be nice to do it without all the bashing.